Underbench Cabinet: Drawer Dividers (part 2)
This
is the front elevation of the cabinet ...
I decided to work on the rear of the chest first .. so I could get in some practice and make my mistakes where they will not be seen!
Much preparation has gone into accurately positioning and marking the sliding dovetail parts for each divider. This was described in the previous post ...
Sliding Dovetail Tails
It is a good place to start. All the dividers are cut to size. These are each 12mm wide x 45mm deep. The heights vary per row, but there are essentially two drawer heights.
The tails will be 3mm deep as the drawer blades are 12mm thick, and two sockets take up 6mm of this.
This is the work area and tools ...
There is a bench hook for a dozuki, a Stanley #79 side rebate plane converted into a plane for dovetailing, a cutting gauge, a knife and a wide chisel.
The aim is to make dividers like these ...
Begin by marking the shoulders of the dovetails ...
Ensure these lines are deep. Score them again with a knife.
Pencil in the cheeks ...
The pencil is going to act as a "depth gauge" when dovetailing.
The Stanley #79 was originally designed to take a slither off the inside of a groove or a dado. I have modified this one by adding an angle (6:1 ratio) to the depth stop ...
By running the #79 along the edge, the angled blade will now slice away the cheek at a 6:1 ratio ...
Look carefully at the beginning of the cheek for a sliver of pencil. This shows what has not been cut to the edge ...
Just work that area. One slice is enough. Done ....
The drawer blade is 45mm wide, of which 20mm contains a tenon from the mortice-and-tenon joint (created with a Domino). The dovetail socket must remain clear of this, and therefore the maximum length of the Tail is 25mm.
The 20mm waste is removed with the dozuki ...
Result ..
Sockets
Positioning and marking out the sockets is a aided by a template and blue tape (it would otherwise be impossible to see anything this small in dark wood).
Time for just one example. I have chosen the more difficult dovetailing into the case. From the rear it is possible to excavate into the case, itself. (This is not possible at the front, and blind sockets will be made there).
The divider is positioned with all drawer blades inserted - the drawer blades will be removed once the marking out is complete to permit room to work ... there is a lot of removing and replacing throughout!
The tails are marked ...
The boundary lines are scored ...
It is important that the lines are scored from the inside of the square, otherwise they will be in danger of moving to the wrong side.
Similarly, when positioning a sawing guide (also 6:1 angle), ensure that the saw is inside the cut line ...
One added advantage of using the saw guide is that accuracy of marking the tails is not critical. The tails are cut at 6:1, and the saw guide just needs the apex of the tails to be marked accurately.
Sawing with the dozuki leaves a triangle of waste at the far end. The kerf can be extended using a razor saw ...
With the sidewall cut, zip out most of the waste with a paring chisel ...
Finish to the desired depth with either a router plane ...
... or the wheel gauge ....
Here is the rear of the case with all the dividers completed ...
The result is a very solid lattice of drawer blades and dividers. Rock solid!
Work has now begun on the front drawer dividers ...
Regards from Perth
Derek
January 2021